Islamic State destroys Iraq's oldest monastery

Satellite photographs confirm that a 1,400-year-old monastery has been reduced
to rubble

Satellite images showing St. Elijah’s Monastery in 2011 (left) and in 2014 when it was destroyedPhoto: DigitalGlobe via AP

By Agency

12:41PM GMT 20 Jan 2016

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (Isil) relentless destruction of heritage sites it considers heretical.

St Elijah's Monastery stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years, including most recently for US troops.

In earlier millennia, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches, prayed in the chapel, worshipped at the altar. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ's name, were carved near the entrance.

This month, at the request of AP news agency, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe took photographs of the site and compared them to earlier images of the same spot.

Before it was razed, a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot stone and mortar building stood fortresslike on a hill above Mosul. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel.

One month later, photographs show "that the stone walls have been literally pulverised," said imagery analyst Stephen Wood, chief executive of Allsource Analysis, who pinpointed the destruction between August and September 2014.

"Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of grey-white dust. They destroyed it completely," he said.

"Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled," said Catholic priest Rev. Paul Thabit Habib in Erbil, Iraq. "We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."

U.S. Army soldiers tour St. Elijah's Monastery on Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq in November 2008 Photo: AP

US troops and advisers had worked to protect and honour the monastery, a hopeful endeavour in a violent place and time.

"I would imagine that many people are feeling like, 'What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?'" said US Army reserve Col. Mary Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009.

Built in 590, tragedy struck at St Elijah's in 1743, when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred by a Persian general.

In 2003 St Elijah's shuddered again – this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the cistern.

St. Elijah's Monastery on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq in November 2008 Photo: AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

The US Army's 101st Airborne Division took control, painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division's "Screaming Eagle," on the walls. Then a US military chaplain, recognising its significance, began a preservation initiative.

Roman Catholic Army chaplain Jeffrey Whorton, who celebrated Mass on the monastery's altar, was grief-stricken at its loss.

"Why we treat each other like this is beyond me," he said. "Elijah the prophet must be weeping."